The blog for Massachusetts Citizens for Life: the pro-life movement in the Bay State since 1973.

Friday, October 23, 2015

U.S.House votes to curtail PP funds - MA 0-6

This press release from National Right to Life explains the latest vote to cut most of Planned Parenthood federal funding for a year. I checked the roll call. All nine of our Congressmen voted "no" ie, in favor of funding PP. Anne

U.S. HOUSE PASSES PRO-LIFE RECONCILIATION BILL

WASHINGTON – The U.S. House of Representatives today passed the "Restoring Americans' Healthcare Freedom Reconciliation Act," (H.R. 3762), 240-189. Among other things, the bill would block, for one year, most federal payments to affiliates of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA).

In advance of the vote, the National Right to Life Committee (NRLC), the federation of state right-to-life organizations, advised House members that the roll call on passage of the bill would be included in NRLC's scorecard of key right-to-life votes, and added, "Our members and affiliates will view the roll calls on H.R. 3762 as votes for or against stripping $400 million from Planned Parenthood."

H.R. 3762 is a special type of legislation called a "reconciliation bill." This means that it cannot be blocked in the Senate by the filibuster, which has been the main obstacle to previous attempts to pass legislation to defund Planned Parenthood. Nevertheless, the bill faces formidable obstacles in the Senate.

"Planned Parenthood now commands about one-third of the total abortion 'market'," said Carol Tobias, National Right to Life president. "For far too long federal taxpayer dollars have been funneled to the nation's abortion giant, and it's time for that to stop. We applaud passage of the reconciliation bill and we urge the U.S. Senate to act quickly."

The bill would close the largest pipeline for federal funding of Planned Parenthood, Medicaid, and apply as well to the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) and the Title V and Title XX block grant programs. These sources account for roughly 89% of all federal funds that currently flow to Planned Parenthood. Under the bill, the amounts denied to Planned Parenthood are reallocated to community health centers.

Planned Parenthood is the nation's largest provider of abortions – at least one-third of all abortions in the U.S. are performed at Planned Parenthood-affiliated facilities. According to their most recent annual report, Planned Parenthood received at least $528 million annually from the federal government or state and local governments.

Based on data from their own annual report from 2013-2014, nearly one in eight women walking through the door of a Planned Parenthood clinic has an abortion. A background memo from National Right to Life is available here:http://www.nrlc.org/communications/ppfamediabackground